Terminal posts on the back plane of telecommunications equipment are arranged in a grid. Most commonly, square posts having a width of 0.025 inch (0.064 cm.) are used with a spacing between adjacent posts of 0.125 inch (0.318 cm.). Flat cables having a plurality of conductors in a single insulating sheath are frequently interconnected with a plurality of the terminal posts by socket connectors which have contact elements having wire connection ends extending from one surface and wiping blades in sockets in the opposite surface for receiving the terminal posts. When many of these socket connectors are engaged with terminal posts on a back plane they interfere with the terminal posts immediately adjacent the connector so that another connector cannot be used to connect those terminal posts. Connectors with a sufficiently compact design to utilize all of the posts in a grid are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,083,615 and 4,181,384. However, with both of these connectors it is necessary to strip out and individually handle each of the conductors in the flat cable. This is undesirable because it is, of course, very time consuming.